The changing face of darts is highlighted by the boom in youngsters excelling at the sport's top level.
The JDC - alongside the Winmau Development Tour - have given a platform for the game’s future stars to showcase their ability, and the 2024 Paddy Power World Championship encapsulates the success of this.
Out of the 96 participants in the sport's showpiece event, 23 of them are under the age of 30, with nine participants younger than 25.
Newly crowned PDC World Youth Champion Luke Littler is the youngest player in the field at just 16-years-old, and he makes his World Championship debut against Christian Kist later tonight.
Littler also retained his JDC World Championship title on the Alexandra Palace stage a few days ago, and believes his game could propel him to the Sid Waddell Trophy this year.
“I hope people do get the good message that I am good enough, because obviously I’ve earned it off the Development Tour to get my Tour Card," said the teenager.
“Like people say, I could do a Rob Cross on debut. If my A-game is there then I possibly could [win the World Championship].”
This year has also seen the emergence of 21-year-old Gian van Veen on the big stage.
The Dutchman won his PDC Tour Card at European Q-School in January and has made his debut in five PDC Premier televised events, including the World Championship, where he narrowly lost out to another youngster – 24-year-old Man Lok Leung from Hong Kong.
Van Veen - a six-time Development Tour title winner in 2023 - demonstrated the fearlessness the growing crop of young dart players possess at the European Championship earlier this year, dumping out three-time World Champion Michael van Gerwen en route to the semi-finals on debut.
No other player illustrates the growing impact of youth in the world of darts however than former PDC World Youth Champion Luke Humphries.
The 28-year-old heads into the biggest tournament of the year in red-hot form, winning three of the last four PDC Premier TV titles, which saw him touted as the pre-tournament favourite by Paddy Power.
The Berkshire-born superstar has captured 12 senior titles in the past two years and has become one of the most successful products of the PDC’s youth system, where he won 11 Development Tour titles.
The women’s game has also benefitted from a growing influx of young stars. Half of the competitors in the 2023 Betfred Women’s World Matchplay were under the age of 30, with 19-year-old Beau Greaves crowned as the champion.
Greaves also made her debut in the Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts this year, narrowly missing out on qualification from the group stage following a 5-4 defeat to Damon Heta.
Despite the youthful presence in this year’s World Darts Championship, the tournament has a lot of experienced players on show too.
The oldest player in the event is Steve Beaton, who began his 23rd consecutive PDC World Championship campaign last night.
The 59-year-old has experienced nearly everything in this sport, and offered his advice to the growing crop of young players after his opening round win against Dutch debutant Wessel Nijman.
“The best thing is to enjoy it. I started off [playing] with my friends and I think the best practice is playing amongst yourselves," claimed the former Lakeside Championship winner.
“That’s the best advice I can give.
“[Darts] is great if you’re a youngster now. I’d have been buzzing if it was like this when I was 21.”